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As Netflix pours more of its resources into original content, Amazon Prime Video is picking up the slack, adding new movies for its subscribers each month. Its catalog has grown so impressive, in fact, that it’s a bit overwhelming — and at the same time, movies that are included with a Prime subscription regularly change status, becoming available only for rental or purchase. It’s a lot to sift through, so we’ve plucked out 100 of the absolute best movies included with a Prime subscription right now, to be updated as new information is made available.
Here are our lists of the best TV shows and movies on Netflix, and the best of both on Hulu and Disney+.
‘Snack Shack’ (2024)
Adam Rehmeier’s coming-of-age story is set in the summer of 1991, and initially seems not only about that era, but of it, replicating the look and sound of teen sex comedies. (You can’t get more ’90s than a montage set to EMF’s “Unbelievable.”) But that’s a bit of a head fake; this is a movie with more on its mind. A.J. (Conor Sherry) and Moose (Gabriel LaBelle) are a pair of young entrepreneurs who see a moneymaking opportunity in the concession stand at the local public pool. As often happens in these tales, a girl threatens to come between them, but that’s where we diverge from the formula; as written by Rehmeier and played by Mika Abdalla, the “cool girl” Brooke has the complexity and agency of a contemporary heroine, allowing Rehmeier to navigate a third-act flip into serious waters with grace and dexterity.
‘Nico, 1988’ (2018)
The filmmaker Susanna Nicchiarelli brilliantly sidesteps the conventions of the musical biopic with this unorthodox portrait of the German singer Christa Päffgen — better known to the world as Nico, the Velvet Underground vocalist and mainstay of Andy Warhol’s Factory. But Nicchiarelli introduces us to Päffgen long after those years, and honors the singer’s wish not to revisit them, instead focusing on her difficult final days and the constant inconvenience of that legacy. It’s a risk that pays off, thanks in no small part to Trine Dyrholm’s mesmerizing lead performance, which manages to channel the singer’s dark charisma without lapsing into anything so pedestrian as mere imitation. (If you like indie dramas, try “Morvern Callar” and “Eight Men Out.”)
‘Edge of Tomorrow’ (2014)
If James Cameron remade “Groundhog Day,” it might come out looking like this fast, funny and thrilling Tom Cruise vehicle from the director Doug Liman (“The Bourne Identity”). Cruise stars as a military public relations man who is reluctantly thrown to the front lines, where he discovers he is trapped in a time loop: When he is killed, he jolts awake to the beginning of his adventure, forced to keep doing it until he gets it right. Emily Blunt is dynamite as the heroic soldier who shows him the ropes (and has a fair number of laughs at his expense), while Liman orchestrates the comic and action beats with equal grace and skill. (For more white-knuckle thrills, try “A Quiet Place: Day One.”)
‘Mississippi Burning’ (1988)
This procedural drama inspired by the 1964 murders of the civil-rights workers James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Henry Schwerner netted several Oscar nominations, including a best actor nod for Gene Hackman, Frances McDormand’s first nomination (for best supporting actress), and a best director nomination for Alan Parker. The filmmaker nails the insidiousness of racism (and the violence it engenders), Hackman and McDormand are beautifully understated, and Willem Dafoe finds just the rote note for his no-nonsense F.B.I. newbie. Our critic called it “first-rate.” (Hackman is also excellent in “Cisco Pike” and “The Package.”)
‘Hundreds of Beavers’ (2024)
The current media ecosystem isn’t conducive to cult movies anymore, but occasionally one breaks through, an out-of-nowhere slice of outsider cinema that astounds and baffles viewers in equal measure. That’s the case with this refreshingly unconventional frontier comedy from the director Mike Cheslik, a black-and-white, dialogue-free romp filled with surrealist slapstick and actors in oversized animal costumes. Ryland Brickson Cole Tews stars as a fumbling fur trapper who must catch and kill the beavers to win the hand of his lady love, but that’s just a clothesline on which to hang a seemingly inexhaustible supply of clever comic bits. Its low-budget chintziness becomes its charm, with Cheslik drawing inspiration from everything, whether it’s Chaplin or Nintendo. It’s just the darnedest thing — and that’s a compliment.
‘Challengers’ (2024)
The first of the director Luca Guadagnino’s two 2024 releases is this “fizzy, lightly sexy, enjoyable tease of a movie,” detailing every ill-advised kiss and every strategic volley of a love triangle in the world of professional tennis. Zendaya is Tashi, a rising star who becomes the simultaneous object of desire for best friends and fellow tennis prodigies Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor) — though desire is a messy emotion, easily diverted and manipulated. Guadagnino shoots the tennis matches with thrilling, electric style, but the real fireworks happen off the court.
‘My Old Ass’ (2024)
It sounds like the plot of a high-concept ’80s comedy: The teenage Elliot (the charismatic Maisy Stella), while tripping on mushrooms, meets the 39-year-old version of herself (a delightfully dry Aubrey Plaza). But wacky high jinks do not ensue; the writer and director Megan Park instead uses this premise to craft a firmly grounded serio-comic drama about life, love and regret. Her smart script has a great ear for dialogue (she’s particularly adept at understanding how young adults who are ready to take on the world talk) and a keen understanding of young love, and the closing passages are tender and touching. And then it’s wildly funny, on top of all of that. Our critic called it “a buoyant comedy with a big heart.”
‘Compliance’ (2012)
This Sundance sensation from the writer and director Craig Zobel tells a story so unbelievable, it had to be true: a man calls a fast-food restaurant, claiming to be a police officer, and instructs the manager to interrogate an employee on suspicion of theft. With the caller’s explicit instructions, the manager proceeds to humiliate and assault the young woman. Zobel crafts his film as both a morality play and a steadily tightening noose, its escalating discomfort complemented by the credible performances of Ann Dowd as the manager, Dreama Walker as the victim and Pat Healy as the caller.
‘Mean Girls’ (2004)
The clique-based high school comedy has rarely been told with the rapier wit or the surgical precision of this teen comedy from Mark Waters, directing a script adapted by Tina Fey from Rosalind Wiseman’s book “Queen Bees and Wannabes.” Fey turned Wiseman’s youth-focused self-help book into the fabulously funny story of a new girl (Lindsay Lohan) who must quickly learn how to navigate a new and tricky social stratum. Rachel McAdams is deliciously despicable as the most popular (and thus, the most powerful) girl in school, while the “Saturday Night Live” veterans Amy Poehler, Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer and Fey herself shine in supporting turns. (For more female-fronted teen comedy, stream “Bottoms.”)
‘Thelma & Louise’ (1991)
Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis are dangerously good in this Ridley Scott road movie, which became the center of a national conversation for its unapologetic portrait of two women who reject toxic masculinity. Sarandon and Davis play friends whose weekend getaway is derailed by an attempted rape; when they strike back, they find themselves on the run. Callie Khouri won an Oscar for her screenplay. “It reimagines the buddy film with such freshness and vigor that the genre seems positively new,” our critic wrote. (“Boys on the Side” is a similarly affecting road movie.)
‘The Lego Movie’ (2014)
At first glance, a feature film based on the Lego toy line sounded like the crassest kind of commercial moviemaking. But the directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are masters of making engaging entertainment out of terrible-sounding ideas (their credits include the “Jump Street” movies), and “Lego” ingeniously turns its heavily-branded high concept into a giddy meta-analysis of the entire concept of imagination and play (and uses it as an excuse to host an eye-popping assortment of pop-culture characters). Throw in a prescient subplot concerning the villainous “President Business,” and you’ve got one of the smartest, funniest family movies in recent memory.
‘The Bouncer’ (2019)
It was very easy, for quite some time, to dismiss Jean-Claude Van Damme as just another blank-slate action star. But something truly fascinating has happened as he’s grown older — in his best roles, he’s playing his age rather than ignoring it. He no longer seems like a guy who can win every fight, so his fights are far more interesting. His face, like Clint Eastwood’s, has grown richer as its lines grow deeper and harder, and like Eastwood, he does his best acting when he seems to be doing nothing at all. This rough-and-tumble crime thriller from the gifted action director Julien Leclercq (“Sentinelle”) gives Van Damme plenty of character moments — it’s quieter and moodier than your typical bone-cruncher — but when the action beats arrive, they’re lean, mean and effective.
‘Submarine’ (2011)
The British comic actor Richard Ayoade (“The IT Crowd”) made his feature directorial debut with this clever, witty and ultimately tender coming-of-age story. Adapting the novel by Joe Dunthorne, Ayoade introduces us to Oliver (Craig Roberts), a 15-year-old Welsh schoolboy, as he navigates his first love and a schism in his parents’ marriage. Critics compared Ayoade’s style to Wes Anderson (not always favorably), but the influences and ideas run deeper than such simple homage, and the director proves himself an adroit chronicler of a certain kind of outcast.
‘Bridesmaids’ (2011)
Kristen Wiig stars in and writes (with her frequent collaborator Annie Mumolo) this comedy smash from the director Paul Feig. Wiig is Annie, an aimless baker whose lifelong pal Lillian (Maya Rudolph) is getting hitched and asks Annie to serve as maid of honor. This duty sets off an uproarious series of broad comic set pieces and thoughtful introspection; both the comedy and drama are played to the hilt by an ensemble that includes Rose Byrne, Jon Hamm, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ellie Kemper, Chris O’Dowd and an Oscar-nominated Melissa McCarthy. (For more wild comedy, stream “MacGruber” or “Horrible Bosses.”)
‘Something Wild’ (1986)
This thrillingly unpredictable romantic comedy and crime movie mash-up from the director Jonathan Demme (“The Silence of the Lambs”) begins as a boy-meets-girl movie with a slightly psychosexual edge, seeming to tell the story of how a wild girl (Melanie Griffith) and a straight guy (Jeff Daniels) meet in the middle. Then Ray (a sensational Ray Liotta) turns up and hijacks the entire movie, turning into something much darker and more dangerous. Throughout, Demme keeps the focus on his colorful characters and sharp dialogue. (If you like quirky comedies, try “Dope” or “Frank.”)
‘Quick Change’ (1990)
For the first and only time in his career, Bill Murray not only stars in but directs (alongside the screenwriter Howard Franklin) one of his feature comedy vehicles. Murray plays a New York City planner who works up an ingenious bank heist that goes off without a hitch. Much more difficult is getting out of Gotham, a simple act of transit that is complicated at every turn by weirdos and incompetents. The cinematographer Michael Chapman, whose credits include “Taxi Driver,” paints a similar (if lighter) portrait of the rotting Big Apple, while a first-rate supporting cast (including Geena Davis, Randy Quaid, Jason Robards, Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub) provide a non-stop barrage of laughs. Watch it on Amazon
‘The Blues Brothers’ (1980)
John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd kicked off the tradition of translating “Saturday Night Live” characters to the big screen with this outsized musical-action-comedy from the director John Landis (“Animal House”). The plot is old hat: The title characters try to put their band back together in order to save their childhood orphanage. But it proves to be an ingenious clothesline upon which Aykroyd and Landis’s script can hang a series of rousing musical numbers and car-crunching chase scenes. Our critic called those sequences “dazzling.”
‘Krisha’ (2016)
Young filmmakers are often told to write what they know, and Trey Edward Shults certainly took that advice to heart: His debut feature is based on the struggles and conflicts of his family, some of whom appear in the film as versions of themselves. (He also shot the film in his family home.) It may sound like a formula for microbudget navel-gazing, but the results are quite the contrary. Shults’ proximity to the material gives it an uncommon intimacy, and his distinctive style — using a visual and aural aesthetic closer to that of horror cinema than of domestic drama — renders this an especially unnerving viewing experience.
‘House of Games’ (1987)
The acclaimed playwright David Mamet made his feature directorial debut with this razor-sharp, “wonderfully devious” story of con artists and their marks. Joe Mantegna is electrifying as a master of card bluffs, sleights of hand and other manipulations of the mind; Lindsay Crouse is the coolheaded psychiatrist fascinated by his world whose observation quickly turns to participation. Mamet deploys the tools of the thriller — there are guns, briefcases of money and a big score to take down — but the real thrills reside in his dialogue, where every line has at least two meanings and every interaction is loaded like a rifle. (Mamet’s “State and Main” and “The Spanish Prisoner” are also on Prime.)
‘In the Heat of the Night’ (1967)
This blistering entertainment won the Oscar for best picture over such stiff competition as “The Graduate” and “Bonnie and Clyde.” It might not have been as formally groundbreaking as those films, but it was just as much of its era, a murder mystery and police procedural that was deeply entrenched in the civil rights struggle of the time. Sidney Poitier is magnificent as a Northern police detective who is caught up in a crime when passing through a small Southern town; Rod Steiger is well-matched as the casually bigoted sheriff whose assumptions are quickly and frequently upended. Our critic called it “a film that has the look and sound of actuality and the pounding pulse of truth.” (Poitier is also marvelous in “The Defiant Ones.”)
‘Green Room’ (2016)
This gripping sleeper hit derives its horror from the all-too-terrifying real world, as the members of a punk band accidentally witness a murder and are held hostage in a bar by a gang of white supremacists. The ensemble cast is strong across the board: Patrick Stewart’s chilling turn as the head neo-Nazi is the unquestionable standout, while Anton Yelchin (in one of his final roles) garners easy sympathy as the quiet bassist who leads his bandmates in the fight for their lives. The writer-director Jeremy Saulnier mixes the claustrophobic tension of movies like “Die Hard” with the backwoods intensity of “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” (“The Grey” is a similarly tense thriller.)
‘To Leslie’ (2022)
Andrea Riseborough’s nomination for the Academy Award for best actress was a shock to the Hollywood establishment — except for those who’d seen the chameleonic actress’s breathtaking turn in this low-budget indie drama from the director Michael Morris. She stars as a single mother in Texas whose life-changing lottery win ultimately does more harm than good; after a brief and triumphant prologue, we catch up with Leslie six years later, when her alcoholism and irresponsibility have left her with none of her winnings, nor much of anything else. Riseborough adroitly captures the contradictions and complications of this prickly character, granting her a warm humanity without sanding down her rough edges; Marc Maron lends fine support as the kind motel owner who tries to lend her a helping hand.
‘L.A. Confidential’ (1997)
James Ellroy’s sparse yet stylish crime novel became one of the best neo-noir thrillers of our time in the hands of the director and co-writer Curtis Hanson (“Wonder Boys”). Set in the razzle-dazzle of 1950s Los Angeles, this best picture nominee is a cracklingly good mystery, featuring framed-up murders, dirty cops, shady tabloid reporters, and crooked politicos. But this isn’t just a good yarn; Hanson understands (as Ellroy did before him) that this is a story about the roots of corruption in the Los Angeles Police Department, and beyond. Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe (both mostly unknown at the time) are the standouts as the diametrically opposed police detectives — one brains, one brawn — who become unlikely partners, while Kim Basinger won an Oscar as the tragic, not-quite femme fatale. (Mystery lovers can also stream “Deathtrap” and “Knives Out” on Prime.)
‘Fast Color’ (2019)
Most superhero movies clobber the viewer with special effects; Julia Hart’s indie drama is barely a superhero movie at all, but a rich, tender character study of three women who just so happen to move objects with their minds. Gugu Mbatha-Raw is remarkable as Ruth, who has smothered her “abilities” in addiction and irresponsibility, returning home to join her mother (Lorraine Toussaint) and daughter (Saniyya Sidney) in an attempt to, well, save the world. Hart’s rich screenplay (written with Jordan Horowitz) vibrates with authenticity and hard-earned emotion; our critic called it “a small, intimate story that hints at much bigger things.”
‘American Psycho’ (2000)
The director Mary Harron and her fellow screenwriter Guinevere Turner transformed Bret Easton Ellis’s gory, divisive 1991 novel into a ruthless satire of the yuppie ethos, with Christian Bale in frighteningly good form as a Wall Street climber who moonlights as a serial killer. But Harron spends less time fetishizing his kills than his status symbols — business cards, skin-care products, compact discs. Watching the result, our critic wrote, “is like witnessing a bravura sleight-of-hand feat.” Jared Leto, Reese Witherspoon, Willem Dafoe and Chloë Sevigny co-star.
‘Mickey One’ (1965)
Before they reunited to shake up the entire art of cinema with “Bonnie and Clyde,” the director Arthur Penn and the actor Warren Beatty teamed up for this wildly, delightfully experimental drama. Beatty, already futzing with his persona just four years after debuting in “Splendor in the Grass,” stars as a nightclub comic who goes underground when he finds himself targeted by the Detroit mob, fleeing to Chicago and trying to make a new start. That would make for a fairly standard neo-noir, but Penn’s cockeyed vision folds in art film existentialism, surrealist gags and winking metatextual commentary, resulting in a crime film unlike any other.
‘Do the Right Thing’ (1989)
Spike Lee wrote, directed and co-starred in this drama of racial tensions on the rise during the hottest day of the summer. Lee sets his story on one block in Brooklyn, as a minor conflict in the neighborhood pizzeria escalates into a full-scale uprising, but it’s no mere polemic; he populates that block with richly drawn characters, filling the frame with such vibrancy and humor that when the violence begins, it’s like a kick in the gut. Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Samuel L. Jackson, Giancarlo Esposito, John Turturro and Rosie Perez are among the four-star cast, while Danny Aiello, the pizzeria owner, was nominated for an Oscar. Our critic called it, simply, “one terrific movie.” (Lee’s “Chi-Raq” is also on Prime.)
‘The Social Network’ (2010)
The unlikely marriage of the screwball-inspired screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and the chilly visual stylist David Fincher birthed one of the finest works of both their careers, a “fleet, weirdly funny, exhilarating, alarming and fictionalized” account of the early days of Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg (brought to hard-edge, sneering life by Jesse Eisenberg). Sorkin’s ingenious, Oscar-winning script spins the Facebook origin story as a Silicon Valley “Citizen Kane,” dazzlingly hopscotching through flashbacks and framing devices. But the ruthlessness of Fincher’s cleareyed direction is what brings the picture together, presciently framing Zuckerberg as the media mogul of the future — and hinting at the trouble that entails. (“Patty Hearst” is a similarly fascinating dramatization.)
‘Heat’ (1995)
Al Pacino and Robert De Niro had never shared the screen before the writer and director Michael Mann put them on opposite sides of the law in this moody, thrilling cops-and-robbers story from 1995 (they appeared in separate sequences of “The Godfather Part II”). And Mann gives that match-up the proper weight: By the time it arrives halfway into this expansive, three-hour movie, we’re expecting fireworks, and we get them. But the best surprise is that there’s so much more to “Heat” than The Big Scene — it features a cool-as-a-cucumber heist, a heart-stopping shootout on the streets of Los Angeles, multiple meditations on the nature of obsession, stylish cinematography, and a jaw-dropping deep bench of supporting players. That scene, though. It’s really something.
‘After Hours’ (1985)
Martin Scorsese contributed to the “one crazy night” comedy subgenre of the 1980s with this “vigorously unsettling” story of a yuppie named Alice who is lost in the twisted wonderland of SoHo after midnight. Griffin Dunne is Paul Hacket, a mild-mannered computer programmer whose ill-advised late-night jaunt downtown to visit a pretty girl (Rosanna Arquette) turns into a parade of urban horrors. Scorsese uses the film’s low budget and fly-by-night production to his advantage, giving it a twitchy, harrowing energy, and the large comic ensemble (which also includes Linda Fiorentino, Teri Garr, John Heard, Catherine O’Hara and Cheech & Chong) is electrifying. (Scorsese’s “The King of Comedy” and “The Last Waltz” are also on Prime.)
‘Out of Time’ (2003)
Years after their collaboration on “Devil in a Blue Dress,” the director Carl Franklin and the star Denzel Washington joined together again for this “often supple and pleasurable” slice of Florida neo-noir. Washington stars as a small-town police chief who finds himself the most likely suspect at the center of an investigation of theft (of which he is guilty) and murder (which he is not). To keep from being implicated, he has to solve the case himself, while staying one step ahead of the investigating detective (Eva Mendes) — who also happens to be his ex-wife. Washington plays the desperation and dark comedy of the character with equal efficiency, while Franklin cranks up the tension and suspense with genuine skill. (Thriller fans should also try “Romeo is Bleeding,” “Deep Cover” and “52 Pick-Up.”)
‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ (1992)
David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, about real estate salesmen and the desperate measures they’ll take to keep their jobs, was adapted into one of the most potent pictures of the ’90s, thanks to the brute force of Mamet’s dialogue and a remarkable ensemble cast: Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey, Jonathan Pryce and Alan Arkin. It’s something of a profanity-laden counterpart to “Death of a Salesman,” its scorched-earth monologues and inventive insults providing the flashy surface to a melancholy indictment of empty capitalism and toxic masculinity. Our critic called it “a movie for which everybody deserves awards.”
‘Sicario’ (2015)
The brutality and hopelessness of the war on drugs gets the thriller treatment in the hands of the director Denis Villeneuve (“Dune”) and the screenwriter Taylor Sheridan (“Yellowstone”). They tell their story through the eyes of Kate (Emily Blunt), a tough but idealistic F.B.I. agent who is asked to join a task force to track and apprehend the head of a Mexican drug cartel. In doing so, Kate gets a quick education in moral flexibility, courtesy of a folksy C.I.A. agent (Josh Brolin) and his coldblooded associate (Benicio Del Toro). Sleek and muscular, filled with pulse-pounding action and harrowing suspense, “Sicario” nonetheless approaches its subject matter with the practicality and cynicism of a sharp political drama.
‘Modern Times’ (1936)
Charles Chaplin made this, his final silent feature, nearly a decade after the talking picture “The Jazz Singer” turned the movie business upside down. The great director-star’s argued that there were some stories that were simply better told, more effective and affecting, in pantomime; this deft mixture of slapstick and social commentary makes that case beautifully. Chaplin plays a factory worker whose resistance to the mechanical age makes him unemployed and desperate. The picture’s Great Depression setting makes it more than a mere comic folly, but a pointed examination of how society treats its haves and have-nots. Our critic wrote, upon its initial release, “Time has not changed his genius.” (Chaplin’s “City Lights” and “The Gold Rush” are also on Prime.)
‘The Hitch-Hiker’ (1953)
Ida Lupino was not only an actor-turned-director but a female filmmaker, in an era where both were rarities. She refused to be boxed in to directing so-called “women’s pictures”; the B-movie realm she dwelled in concerned hard-boiled stories of tough guys and crime, and this tightly-wound thriller is no exception. William Talman is chilling as the title character, thumbing his way across the Southwest on a crime spree when two buddies (Edmond O’Brien and Frank Lovejoy, both stellar) make the mistake of picking him up. Lupino builds dread in each frame, and stretches every dollar of her low budget to create a rough-edged mini-masterpiece.
‘10 Cloverfield Lane’ (2016)
This “master class on narrative pacing and carefully managed jolts” is a spinoff of “Cloverfield,” the 2008 film produced by J.J. Abrams, but stylistically the films couldn’t have less in common: The older of the two was a found-footage monster movie, but here, director Dan Trachtenberg crafts a taut chamber piece that’s closer to “The Twilight Zone” than “The Blair Witch Project.” The movie toys with its audience, never letting it know more than the protagonist does, so that the question of what’s actually going on outside the bunker doors remains tantalizingly elusive. John Goodman has rarely been better as the rescuer and captor, while Mary Elizabeth Winstead is terrific as the resourceful heroine with one eye on the exit.
‘Queen of Katwe’ (2016)
The inspiring true story of the Ugandan chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi gets the Disney treatment — but with a twist. The director Mira Nair, whose credits include the acclaimed and atmospheric international films “Salaam Bombay!” and “Monsoon Wedding,” cleverly sidesteps the clichés of the underdog sports movie, replacing them with a documentarian’s verisimilitude and a novelist’s attentiveness to detail. And her cast is flawless: David Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong’o are inspiring and heartbreaking as Phiona’s coach and teacher, while a young Madina Nalwanga is astonishingly good as Phiona, sensitively conveying both the girl’s tentativeness and her pride. (For more sophisticated yet family-friendly fare, stream “Sounder.”)
‘Die Hard’ (1988)
This loose adaptation of the 1979 novel “Nothing Lasts Forever” was a game-changer for shoot-‘em-up cinema, shifting the paradigm for the action hero from the superhuman likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone to the vulnerable everyman — here brought to wisecracking life by Bruce Willis. It also created a new kind of action formula, prompting “Die Hard” riffs on a battleship (“Under Siege”), an airplane (“Passenger 57 “) and a bus (“Speed”), among others. But it retains its chokehold on pop culture not because of its influence, but its quality; this is a crackerjack thriller, cleverly constructed and directed with quicksilver intensity by the great John McTiernan. (For more classic action, stream “Foxy Brown” or “Coffy.”)
‘Unforgiven’ (1992)
Clint Eastwood began as a star of a television western and starred in (and often directed) some of the most memorable westerns of the 1970s and ’80s. His farewell to the genre had to be special — and it was. This Oscar winner for best picture is both an elegy to the form and a reckoning with it, as its characters (and its makers) wrestle with the implications of killing and dying. Eastwood’s brutal but lyrical direction nabbed him an Oscar for best director, while Gene Hackman picked up a best supporting actor statue for his unforgettable turn as the casually sadistic villain, the standout in a cast that also includes Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris and Eastwood. Over two decades later, “Unforgiven” stands with “The Searchers,” “Red River” and “Stagecoach” among the finest of all screen westerns. (Eastwood’s “American Sniper” and “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot” are also on Prime.)
‘Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead’ (2007)
The director Sidney Lumet capped off a 50-year filmmaking career with this 2007 caper drama, released four years before his death. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke are beautifully matched as ill-tempered brothers, both in desperate need of cash, who attempt to stage a robbery of their family jewelry store — a bad idea even if executed perfectly, which it is not. Albert Finney is staggeringly good as their perpetually disappointed father, while Marisa Tomei finds the right, difficult notes for her work as Hoffman’s wife (and Hawke’s girlfriend). It’s a tough and uncompromising swan song from a true modern master.(If you love crime thrillers, check out “The Last Seduction” and “King of New York.”)
‘Good Will Hunting’ (1997)
Robin Williams won the Academy Award for his supporting work in this, the breakthrough film for Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (who also picked up Oscars for their original screenplay). Damon stars as Will Hunting, a Boston janitor whose secret gift for advanced mathematics puts him on a fast track out of the working class — a journey he’s not quite sure he’s ready to make. Williams shines as the psychologist who tries to steer him right, and Affleck is superb in the relatively unshowy role of Will’s supportive best friend; Gus Van Sant’s direction is similarly modest but affecting. “The script’s bare bones are familiar,” our critic wrote, “yet the film also has fine acting, steady momentum, a sharp eye and a very warm heart.” (Damon and Affleck would later reunite for “Air,” also on Prime.)
‘Haywire’ (2012)
Steven Soderbergh isn’t exactly the first person you’d think of to helm a globe-trotting action movie featuring a mixed martial arts champ, but he’s never really been one for easy categorization. That said, this is no typical action movie: He uses wide shots and long takes for his action sequences, forgoing the incoherent compositions and rapid-fire edits of too many bone-crunching blockbusters, to better showcase the skills and athleticism of the star Gina Carano. And the script by Lem Dobbs (who wrote Soderbergh’s “The Limey,” also on Prime) is a crisp, lean piece of work, in which a black-ops soldier (Carano) takes the fall for a mission that goes sideways, only to meticulously track down and take out the men who set her up.
‘I Know Where I’m Going!’ (1947)
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, the writing and directing team known collectively as the Archers, crafted this delightful postwar drama of romance and independence. Wendy Hiller is terrific — headstrong, sharp, and funny — as Joan Webster, a practical young woman whose trip to her wealthy fiancé is waylaid by weather and, eventually, her own hesitations about marrying for money rather than love. Powell and Pressburger create a charming collection of rogues and eccentrics to populate the fringes of their tale, while penning a female lead whose complexity and contradictions are as welcome now as in the 1940s. “The Archers,” our critic wrote, “have scored another bull’s-eye.” (Powell and Pressburger’s “Black Narcissus” is also on Prime.)
‘The Holdovers’ (2023)
Nearly two decades after the triumph of “Sideways,” the director Alexander Payne and the actor Paul Giamatti reunited for this bittersweet comedy-drama. Giamatti stars as Paul Hunham, an unapologetically miserable (if masterfully insulting) instructor at a boarding school who finds himself stuck spending the Christmas break with a smarmy student (Dominic Sessa) and a grieving cafeteria manager (Da’Vine Joy Randolph). Giamatti finds poignant new notes for the kind of acerbic character he’s made his specialty, Oscar-winner Randolph is both uproarious and heartbreaking and newcomer Sessa shows real promise. And Payne uses the look, feel and ephemera of ’70s cinema to make a film that not only recalls the work of masters like Hal Ashby, but earns comparison to it. (For more Oscar-winning acting, stream “Scent of a Woman” or “The Best Years of Our Lives.”)
‘Creed’ (2015)
The saga of Rocky Balboa, the club fighter plucked from obscurity to fight the heavyweight champ, seemed to have ended with Sylvester Stallone’s 2006 back-to-basics effort “Rocky Balboa.” But nearly a decade later, the filmmaker Ryan Coogler cast a fresh eye on the saga, recasting Stallone’s Rocky as the mentor to Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan), the son of Apollo Creed, Rock’s old rival turned friend. What sounds like a desperate attempt to revive a failing franchise is instead a powerful story of legacy, loss and love, thanks to the energetic direction of Coogler (who would next helm “Black Panther”) and the sensitive performances of Jordan, an Oscar-nominated Stallone and Tessa Thompson, who plays Bianca, the romantic interest. Our critic called it “a dandy piece of entertainment, soothingly old-fashioned and bracingly up-to-date.”
‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ (1946)
The director Frank Capra and the actor James Stewart took a marvelously simple premise — a suicidal man is given the opportunity to see what his world would have been like without him — and turned it into a holiday perennial. But “It’s a Wonderful Life” is too rich and complex to brand with a label as simple as “Christmas movie”; it is ultimately a story about overcoming darkness and finding light around you, a tricky transition achieved primarily through the peerless work of Stewart as a good man with big dreams who can’t walk away from the place where he’s needed most. Our critic called it a “quaint and engaging modern parable.” (Classic movie lovers can also stream “Imitation of Life” on Prime.)
‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’ (1935)
This Alfred Hitchcock hit — which he would later remake with James Stewart and Doris Day — features an irresistible setup (a dying man whispers a clue about his killer to a near-stranger, but she can’t act on the information or it will endanger her child), “fascinating staccato violence” and one of Hitchcock’s most memorable set pieces: an assassination attempt during a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. The early passages are playful and dapper, almost comic in tone, before Hitchcock gets around to some of our most primal fears: child peril, random violence, hypnosis, even dentistry. And it has a first-rate villain in the great Peter Lorre, a marvel of purring menace in his first English-speaking role. (Hitchcock’s “The 39 Steps” and “The Lady Vanishes” are also on Prime.)
‘Short Term 12’ (2013)
Set at a group home for troubled teens, this touching indie drama from Destin Daniel Cretton casts aside the after-school-special conventions typical of such stories and digs out the dramatic truths buried within. Cretton offsets the inherently downbeat subject matter with an exuberant directorial hand and coaxes gutsy performances from his ace cast, including “before they were stars” turns by Brie Larson, LaKeith Stanfield, Stephanie Beatriz and Rami Malek. Our critic noted, “Mr. Cretton manages to earn your tears honestly.” (For more character-driven drama, stream “The Eternal Daughter” or “The Bikeriders.”)
‘Some Like It Hot’ (1959)
Two jazz musicians (Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis) disguise themselves in drag to escape some gangsters, but one of them falls for a seductive singer (Marilyn Monroe, in one of her best performances), while the other becomes the object of a millionaire’s desire. Both uproariously funny and tight as a drum, “Some Like It Hot” works through every complication of its farcical setup, landing not only on a picture-perfect conclusion but also on one of the best closing lines in all of cinema. Our critic called it “a rare, rib-tickling lampoon.”
‘In a Lonely Place’ (1950)
This hard-edge and harrowing drama from the director Nicholas Ray (“Rebel Without a Cause”) has elements of not only shadowy noir but movie-biz roman à clef, yet it ultimately takes on a much bigger subject: the recklessness, jealousy and distrust of a dysfunctional relationship. Humphrey Bogart turns in perhaps his finest screen performance, as the troubled and unstable Hollywood has-been, while Gloria Grahame is dizzyingly complex as the woman who could save him if she can survive him. Ray’s dark direction and the shockingly downbeat conclusion make for a rich and honest picture that still seems decades ahead of its time. (For more classic drama, stream “Brief Encounter” and “Bicycle Thieves.”)
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